Berghoff Genuine Dark Beer

Brewed by Minhas Craft Brewery
Style: Vienna
Monroe, Wisconsin USA

Pours a deep brown with amber when held to the light. Head was average, creamy, off white that left slight lacing. Aroma of lightly sweet grainy malts, some dark fruits and caramel. Flavor along the same lines...a little fruiter than expected. Still sweet and malty. Less grain profile in the flavor.

12 oz bottle. Clear light brown color with an off white head. Like almost every beer under the Berghoff label, it has a strange cherry-ish aroma. There is also a light brown sugar smell. Flavor isn’t too bad; malty chocolate, cherry, and a touch of molasses. Sweet on the tongue watery a mouth feel and a light roasty flavor. "One of the Top 100 Beers in the World" my ass.

My first reaction upon pouring this beer is that it doesn’t seem all that dark; like it was given this name before craft beer took off (late 1980’s) and redefined what most of us think of as being "dark beer." Aroma is slightly sweet yet neither hoppy nor malty, which is a bit odd. Taste is very sweet and malty, like an Oktoberfest beer which is slightly fruity. Not bad, but this style of beer is not really my taste.

Reddish-brown color, with a quickly-disappearing head. Somewhat faint, malty aroma. Mild flavors, but I can detect notes of malt, chocolate, and maybe some nuts. This beer is very much on the thin side. Carbonation is rather fizzy, too, and that doesn’t help the palate score, either. There are much better Vienna’s on the market, so do yourself a favor and pass on this one.

Bottle: Brown/mahogany, nice head and lacing. Nose of muscavado and coffee chaff, plum, raisin and tar. The flavor is balanced, kinda thin and a balsamic vinegar and kabayaki note in the end. Kinda boring.

This Vienna pours a medium dark brown color from a 12oz bottle. Medium to small sized white foamy head. Aroma is caramel and fruity, a touch sweet. A light to medium bodied Vienna. Malts are caramel and fruity, a touch cider-ish. Carbonation is rather flat. A touch bland, thin and watery. I think this s more an effect of the thin carbonation than a flavor flaw, but still kind of boring. Nice roasty malt flavor. Mouthfeel is thin. Finish is clean and crisp. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Pours like a flat coke. Faint roasted notes in the nose. Tastes like a lager with some cocoa poweder stirred in. Odd waxy finish.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is basically the same brew as Huber Bock, only slightly lighter in color. Now c’mon, that ain’t such a bad thing. From a bottle, this pours a dark, crystal-clear amber with small white head. Faint breadiness in the aroma. Moderate maltiness in the beginning which quickly fades to a dry (but slightly fruity?) finish. Maybe a hint of chocolate way back there somewhere. Seems to be a little more hopping than Huber bock but otherwise, it’s a similar-tasting beer. Again, for the money, that ain’t a bad thing at all.